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Tykes Take Conor

MIDFIELDER Conor Hourihane has joined Barnsley for an undisclosed fee.

The 23-year-old has agreed to join Danny Wilson’s Sky Bet League 1 outfit after spending three seasons at Argyle, for whom he made 142 appearances, scoring 16 goals.

Born in Cork, Hourihane moved to England at 16 to join Sunderland. He would later follow his footballing idol Roy Keane to Ipswich. Conor joined Argyle in July 2011, after a trial in which he scored a winning goal in a friendly with Truro City, sufficiently impressing then manager Peter Reid.

He made 42 appearances, scoring two goals, in his first season at Home Park – his first in League football - during which Argyle battled through administration and Reid was replaced by Carl Fletcher. The latter, having played alongside Hourihane in the heart of the Argyle midfield on numerous occasions, saw fit to make Conor captain on several occasions.

When Fletcher was removed, coinciding with club captain Darren Purse leaving Home Park, new manager John Sheridan moved to make Hourihane his permanent skipper – a responsibility which the relatively young Irishman thrived on.

In the 2013-14 season Hourihane appeared in all but one of the Pilgrims’ fixtures – missing only the home victory over Bury in December, having been suspended for accumulating five cautions. Other than that, his ever-presence indicated how crucial he had become to Sheridan’s plans.

Conor nabbed nine goals last season, appropriately scoring Argyle’s final goal of the campaign, a late leveller in a 3-3 draw at Portsmouth.